Ranma 1. Chapter 1

**Reading Your Diary**

By Lana Atkins

All rights reserved for the ingenius Rumiko Takahashi (Please don't sue me!) who owns the Ranma 1/2 characters and Viz Video for the anime. You rock for creating this anime ! I'm such a fan. Hm. As if she'll ever read this.

Guide:

"" – character's speaking

'' – words from diary

**Chapter 1**

"Akane! Time to get up. Breakfast's downstairs when you're ready." Kasumi called from the other side of Akane's bedroom door.

Akane threw back the covers and bolted out of bed, yelling back, "Okay Sis!" Quickly, she got washed up and dressed for school, and went downstairs.

Soun Tendo was seated at the dining table reading the morning paper. He looked up when Akane walked in and smiled at his daughter.

"Hi Dear. Had good sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, where are Saotome and young Ranma? I thought they'd be down in a flash as soon as they heard 'Breakfast'." asked Soun.

"Oh Father, you didn't know? Uncle Saotome and Ranma are on another training trip. They left yesterday evening." replied Kasumi.

"Oh, must have missed the memo. So I guess you'll be on your own, Akane. I bet you miss the boy." said Soun somewhat hopefully.

"Nah. Not really. What's to miss? Bet the stupid pervert's flirting with whoever he can find over there." said Akane. Soun and Kasumi exchanged exasperated looks.

"Oh yes, Akane, would you please take these clothes up to Ranma's room? I've just folded them." asked Kasumi, changing the topic, but not quite.

"Okay."

Akane made her way upstairs again, this time carrying a full basket of Ranma's clothes and staggering under the weight. She used her foot to kick open Ranma's bedroom door and dropped the basket on his futon. Phew.

"Hmm. I'm a little ahead of schedule, so might as well put his bricks in the drawers."

Opening the drawers, she started filing in all of Ranma's clothes when suddenly she spotted the edge of a book under all his stuff. Curious, she pulled it out and examined it. It was a rather old, worn-out book and was a pale blue (which was slowly turning brown) with dog-eared edges. She opened the cover and inside in scrawled handwriting were the words:

**Diary of Ranma Saotome**

Her eyes opened wide in surprise, and a little part of her wanted to read further when Nabiki yelled from downstairs, "AKANE! You're gonna make us late! Making up for Ranma today, are you?"

"NO, I'LL BE RIGHT DOWN!

Then without thinking, she stashed the diary in her satchel and dashed down the steps to join her sister.

* * *

**Furinkan High**

'AKANE! DATE ME!'

A tirade of young men emerged from the school's courtyard. Akane groaned.

' Oh no, they must've heard that Ranma's away.'

' Looks like you've got your work cut out for you, dear sister.' smirked Nabiki.

Not bothering to answer, Akane took a running start and somehow managed to beat every boy before the school bell rang.

Nabiki stared at the pile of injured boys lying before her and snickered in amusement.

"When will they ever learn."

* * *

The sisters hurried to their respective classes. Akane took a seat, and sighed. History. Knowing Ranma, if he was here, he'd probably be asleep before the class even started.

Ranma.

_Why am I thinking about him?_ Akane questioned herself silently. Then she suddenly remembered the tattered diary in her satchel and pulled it out.

_I never knew he kept a diary—well, I can afford to not pay attention just this once._

Nervous, and a bit guilty, she propped her History Book in front of the diary, and opened the front page. Once again, she lay eyes on her fiancé's untidy scrawls.

**Diary of Ranma Saotome**

Turning another page, she began reading.

'2nd January'

_Hey, the day we met!_

'Okay, I know what you're thinking. Guys aren't supposed to have diaries; they're a lotta sissy stuff. But cuz I got nothin' else to do, an' no one to really talk to, I thought, what the heck, It's not like I got anythin' significant goin' on in my life at this point. Well, here goes.

Today, Pop announces that I gotta marry one of his old pal's daughters. So I do what any sane guy would do. I run away. But the stupid old man caught me, an' now I 'm engaged to this girl, Akane. The bad thing 'bout it is, we had this little accident—you see, she sorta walked in on me in my male form. In the bathroom. I wasn't wearing anything, she wasn't wearing anything, you can guess the rest.

Male **_form_** you ask? Well, my stupid pop suddenly decided to train one day at the Jusenkyo Springs in China. The old man doesn't speak a word of Chinese, so obviously we don't know the history of the cursed springs. Yes, cursed. First, I kicked him into the Spring Of Drowned Panda, and the next thing I know this panda comes out and kicks me into the Spring Of Drowned GIRL. Three guesses what my curse is.

So now, every time we get splashed with cold water, we turn into our cursed forms. Back to the problem at hand. So she sees me in my male form. Now, she hates my guts an' thinks I'm some sort of pervert. Like I would want to see that uncute tomboy on purpose.''

Akane was seething, wanting to bash Ranma's head in if he were here, but continued reading.

'Well.. I guess she is cute when she smiles.'

"Miss Tendo!"

Akane's head jerked up from the book and she closed it quickly. She stared at the annoyed face of Mr. Nakagawa, who was holding two large pails of water to her.

"Go and stand in the hall!"

* * *

Akane stood in the hall for a minute or so, its walls echoing the occasional shout from the boys in the class next to hers and the sloshing of the water in the pails when she moved. Her mind was on the diary still, and she was surprised to find out that she was still clutching it under her arm.

"Well, since I'm going to be out here awhile, might as well continue."

She flipped a few pages impatiently.

'5th January'

'First day of school. I wake up late cuz Akane doesn't bother to wake me up. So I try to catch up with her, an' when I finally do, the whole school is running toward us! Akane gives a groan an' mumbles somethin' bout' bein' late again, an' then starts fightin' all the guys. So I just stand an' watch. I gotta admit this girl is better than most. Normally girls as pretty as her would be more concerned bout' their appearance.'

Akane felt herself go red for a moment as her expression softened.

''That's why she's such a macho chick!'

_I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. RANMA YOU INSENSITIVE JERK, YOU RUIN **EVERYTHING**!!!!!_

'Anyways, later, she explained the whole thing. This senior guy, Kuno (the idiot calls himself the Blue Thunder) made this rule that whoever beat Akane in battle got to date her. So far, no such luck. Of course, I kicked the poetry-reciting nutcase into the sky, to which that tomboy hit me on the head an' told me she could take care of herself. Geez, what is her problem sometimes? All I did was try to help.'

**Driiiinnnngggg! **

_Wow_, thought Akane. _School's over that quick? Well, I'll read more at home._

Mr. Nakagawa (the history teacher if you're wondering) poked his head out the doorway.

"You may leave now, Miss Tendo."

Akane went inside to retrieve her bag and shoved the diary into it. Just as she was leaving the exit, Nabiki appeared. They started on the walk home. Akane was silent; lost in her own thoughts.

"Pining for him already?"

Akane instantly denied it, calling him a string of names just to prove her point.

Nabiki acknowledged the bright red flush that was spreading across her little sister's cheeks, and only smirked knowingly.

**Author's Note:**

And that's a wrap for Chapter 1. If you bored enough to be interested, please read on and find out what happens. And please review! If you have the time, that is. Thanks. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Reading Your Diary**

By Lana Atkins

All rights reserved for the ingenius Rumiko Takahashi (Please don't sue me!) who owns the Ranma 1/2 characters and Viz Video for the anime. You rock for creating this anime! I'm such a fan. Hm. As if she'll ever read this.

Guide:

""- characters speaking

'' – words from diary

**Chapter 2**

Kasumi and her father noticed the silence in Akane during lunch. She had hardly uttered a word to anyone, except to Kasumi, asking her to pass the rice.

"Are you feeling alright, Akane?" asked Kasumi, concerned.

"Nah, I'm fine Kasumi. Just thinking about something I read today," replied Akane.

"Care to tell us about it?" smiled her sister.

"Well, look at the time! I think I'd better get upstairs, got a lot of homework to finish—"sang Akane fakely, and with that she rushed upstairs to the comfort of her bedroom. Plonking her bag on the bed, she ripped the flap open and brushed impatiently through her files and textbooks. Finally, she removed the diary and stared at it for a moment, reluctant to pry more into something that was never supposed to be pried into in the first place. But curiosity finally got the better of her, and she opened it again and flipped over to where she left off.

'27th February'

'Today hasn't been one of my best days. To start it off, Akane conveniently 'forgets' to wake me up and then leaves without me, so I have to run like anything to catch up with her. Then, from out of nowhere, there's this guy coming at me, screaming " DIE RANMA!" Of course, I could take him. He couldn't lay a hand on me. Akane wasn't as lucky, and the tomboy ended up having to be saved by me. Man, is she a klutz or what? Although she did try to protect me. Argh. Anyway, I guess I went outta line and I said some things I kinda meant, but I didn't mean it to come out so badly. She got hurt. And lands me with a hard one on the cheek. I saw tears in her eyes, so I felt kinda bad. Then, to top it all off, the guy's bandanna whizzes by and in a flash Akane's long hair is completely severed in half!

Probably the worst was seein' that stunned look on her face, like she wasn' even here anymore. It made me feel so bad I told her to hit me as hard as she could. So did that other guy. (His name's Ryoga, an old rival, who's only attackin' me because I didn't turn up for a fight. I'd never do that! The guy has the worst sense of direction I ever knew! I turned up for that fight, let me make it clear, Ryoga just took more than a week to arrive, by then I was already gone.)

Anyways, I figured he must've felt guilty too. Well, she hit us. After the beating it had taken, my cheek smarted for weeks after that. Kasumi told me later that she ran to her after that, an' asked her to trim her hair evenly. I gotta say, she looked even cuter with short hair.'

All this time, Akane was fingering her blue-black strands while smiling like an idiot.

_He thinks I'm cute…_

"Akane dear?"

As the door jerked open, Akane was startled, and hid the book behind her.

"What's up, Kasumi?"

"Ranma just called. He said that they'd be home early, at earliest by tomorrow. He mentioned that Uncle Saotome screwed up again and that he'd had enough. He asked about you, you know."

"He did?" Akane's voice tone went a note higher, then she realized it and lowered it again, hoping Kasumi didn't notice. "Um, he did? What did he say?"

"Mostly how you were getting on without him to protect you."

Akane was about to make an ugly remark about him, but instead replied to the oblivious Kasumi,

"O-Oh. How nice of him to ask."

Kasumi smiled at her the god-like smile that only she could give. "Well, I just thought you might like to know that. I think I'll go now; have to get started on dinner."

"Okay Kasumi. Thanks for telling me."

"Bye dear."

After her sister closed the door, Akane spent the next few hours reading all the contents of the book. Truth be told, it wasn't very long because, Akane assumed, Ranma being someone that attracted the weird things that always seemed to happen, probably didn't have much time to write in it.

Once she had finished the whole book, she sighed. She somehow felt—disappointed. Sad.

Miserable.

She hadn't found a single word—or sign—that told her that Ranma cared for her in any way. Her face began to feel hot, and the next thing she knew, her eyes were moist. She sat still on the bed while the tears rolled down, and she wiped them on the sleeve of the yellow dress.

As she moved, the diary flipped over to the last page. There was Ranma's writing on it. Akane curiously picked the book up. It read:

'24th December'

'It's Christmas Eve. It's been a quiet day so far, Akane hasn't malleted me, none of my fiancées have bothered me and Ryoga, Mousse or Kuno haven't shown up, so I'm glad I've at least ONE day in a year as peaceful as this.

Nerima is beautiful now, with all this snow. I can honestly say its been the only place that's felt like home to me in all my life, and I'm just glad I'm spending Christmas with someone other than Pop this year. Me an' Akane were doing some Christmas Shopping ( against my will, of course) and we walkin' past this shop window, when she stopped and looked at some stuff she liked, so I silently took note of it as we walked home.

Maybe it was Christmas spirit, or something, but I found myself buying her the stuff after I dropped her at the dojo. It took me more than half the day, but I got all of it, an' walked back to the dojo as quickly as I could. As I passed the park, I suddenly saw Akane sitting silently on the bench. Her face was red from the cold, and she looked exhausted. I figured she was lookin' for me. Then she looked up at me with those big hazel eyes in surprise. I had never noticed how pretty they were until tonight. She got to her feet and ran to me, an' she had anger written all over her face. I saw that she was gonna mallet me any second, so I took out my gifts and put them in her soft arms.

Akane stared at my gifts in surprise an' looked at me, the anger totally gone. She hugged them close to her, then looked at me again an' gave me one of those smiles that could always drive me crazy.

I—I wanted to kiss her, right then and there, but, well, I guess I was scared.

I never back down from any fight. But when it comes to Akane—an' it always does—this is one battle I'm afraid to fight. If you count love as a battle.

The thing is, that night, I realized something. I remember the many times I thought I was gonna lose her… I don't ever wanna feel that again. That's why I fight for her, and protect her, an' put my life in danger. I'll always put hers before mine no matter what.

This is because—I think.. I think I've fallen for her.'

There were no more words to follow the last sentence.

Akane sat still, stunned. She was in a daze, and didn't know how long she sat like that before she came back to earth.

_He…he loves me? _

Akane looked out the window and over the koi pond into the distance.

_Oh Ranma.._

Then, she broke into a slow grin..

* * *

Ranma and Genma burst into the hall of the Tendo home bright and early the next day.

"Hey everybody, we're home!" yelled Ranma.

Kasumi appeared from the kitchen, a big smile on her angelic face. "Welcome home! You're just in time for breakfast."

Father and son looked at each other, then rushed to be seated at the table, pushing through the doorway. Their faces held ecstatic grins.

"Ohboyohboyohboy! It's been awhile since I tasted your cooking, Kasumi! An' it woulda been a lot sooner if Pop didn't take me on this stupid training trip.." said Ranma, glaring at his dad.

"You watch your mouth boy!"said Genma, slapping his son on the back of the head. Soun and Nabiki joined them a while later, and soon Kasumi carried in all the dishes. Only Akane was missing now; usually she'd have been the first down, probably to yell at him for flirting with other women.

Ranma growled. The tomboy was clueless. He couldn't have cared less about flirting with other girls, and he sure as hell didn't care about…

Ranma's eyes went wide when Akane finally appeared, and she gave him a small smile, but didn't say anything. He felt his face radiate with warmth.

All of them sat down on their mats and tucked in. Ranma's eyes flickered to Akane from time to time. She was quiet through the busy chatter at dinner.

_What's with her?_ thought Ranma puzzically.

After they had finished, they departed to different parts of the house; Kasumi to the kitchen, Akane and Nabiki to their rooms, Soun to the hall, Ranma and Genma to the dojo.

Straightaway, both Saotomes moved to fighting stances, but Ranma was too distracted with thoughts of Akane to concentrate on the fight all that much.

_Why was she so quiet? She would've at least thrown an insult at me by now._

So distracted was he, however, that Genma finally threw a kick to the pigtailed boy's stomach that sent him across the room.

'You need to practice more m'boy! You're distracted now, I can tell. Empty your mind and concentrate!' shouted Genma.

Ranma knew that wasn't going to happen.

* * *

After a quick hot shower, Ranma threw some fresh clothes on and lay down on his futon, exhausted. It was then when he realized his head was lying on something. He got up from the spot and picked up a small piece of paper. It read:

**Ranma, **

**Come to my room at 11.00 tonight, and MAKE SURE NO-ONE SEES YOU.** **I've got something for you that will explain any confusion you might have been having today.**

**Akane**

_I knew it. I knew her good mood was too good to be true. What have I done now?_ he thought.

* * *

Later that night, everyone else in the Tendo household was asleep. Ranma thought he'd go through the window, remembering Akane's warning to keep out of sight. He jumped out his window unto a tree and into her open window.

It was dark inside Akane's room. He approached her slightly visible bed. Suddenly, a tiny light appeared in the center of the room.

A candle. With Akane holding it. She was wearing the yellow pajamas Ranma had seen so many times before, but there was a slight scent of perfume in the air, and he could see she had done her hair up in a style he hadn't seen before. Even in the dim light, she looked so cute he had to keep himself from staring.

"Hi Ranma."

"Uh...hi Akane. Mind tellin' me what I'm doin' here?" Ranma asked.

"In a while. I'm glad you came."

Ranma gulped, slightly nervous. "Yeah, well— I just wanted to know why you were callin' me so late at night. Curiosity got the better of me."

She smiled lightly and sat on the bed, patting the space beside her and motioning for him to join her. He hesitated, but finally gave in and sat beside her.

"You want it now?" asked Akane.

"Want what now?"

"Your, uh, gift."

"Um, okay." replied Ranma, still trying to figure the whole thing out.

"Well…close your eyes."

Obediently, he closed them. He still couldn't figure out what was going on, and felt more puzzled than ever. He felt the bed lift, as her weight was removed from it.

Akane took a deep breath.

Suddenly, Ranma felt two small, cold hands on his face. And then two soft lips on his.

His eyes shot open. He sank into shock for a second, his eyes wide openly staring at Akane kissing him, but then he relaxed and started to kiss back as he closed his eyes. The kiss grew in heat and intensity but still remained the sweet, first kiss it was. Finally Akane drew from him and stared at the handsome face in front of her, giggling softly because his eyes were still shut. When he finally opened them, Akane was kneeling next to the bed and looking up at him with a flushed and excited face.

"You know, you kinda ruined it for me."

Akane's face fell immediately. "What—what do you mean?"

Ranma broke into a slow smile. "I wanted to be the one to kiss you first."

Happiness consumed her heart, and a smile crept its way to the surface again.

"So," she said mischievously. "What were you expecting? To be malleted into orbit?"

Ranma laughed and scratched the behind of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I sort of thought it was some kind of trap. I was wondering what I had done to upset ya this time."

Akane laughed softly. Ranma looked at her. "You know, I've never told you this, but I really like your laugh."

"I'm gonna be laughing a lot more from now on." she said, sitting next to him on the bed, laying her head on his chest.

His fingers stroked her hair and he bent down to whisper softly in her ear. "I think— I might be in love with you, Miss Akane Tendo."

She reached up and touched his cheek. "You don't know how long I've waited for you to say that.."

Suddenly, the two heard footsteps in the direction of her bedroom. They moved apart quickly.

"I—think I'd better go."

"Okay. See you in the morning, Ranma-kun." She smiled fondly at him.

Ranma was halfway out the window when he turned around and looked at her.

"One more question before I go."

"Which would be?" They stiffened as they heard the footsteps drawing closer. "No hurry," she added nervously.

She needn't have worried; he was already outside on the windowsill. He paused, and whispered in the quiet of her room.

"What brought all this on? Why you did what you did—why so out of the blue?"

Akane looked at Ranma, her perverted, idiotic, jerk of a fiancé, whom she knew she'd always love—and down to her pillow, where the corner of Ranma's diary was sticking out.

"Let's just say—that somebody let me on to some things." said Akane as she slid the diary back under the pillow, blocking it from view.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

Well, that's a wrap for my 1st ever fanfic. I hope you liked it. Again, please review. I'm very, very new at this, so if it sucked, go easy on the critism please! I just can't believe I finished it; it took me quite a while. I'd love to hear what you thought of my first try, so please tell me what you thought of it.

But don't worry, compliments as well as suggestions are very much appreciated.

Oh yes, to all those who may have thought that my fic is similar to theirs, I'm so sorry, I never intended to take any ideas.

Well, nothing else to say so bye and thanks for reading! God bless you.

Lana Atkins


End file.

Ranma, Romance